Social Assistance Schemes Research Articles

Central Europe in Transition: Emerging Models of Welfare and Social Assistance

This paper discusses the emergence of a new model of welfare and social assistance in Central and Eastern Europe. It starts by briefly summarizing the most recent social policy developments occurring in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia and continues investigating the most urgent reform challenges and adaptational strategies. As argued elsewhere (see Cerami 2006a), the main argument of the paper is that CEECs are moving towards a new world of welfare capitalism, which combines old with new social policy characteristics. A special emphasis in this paper is, however, given to the systems of social assistance, since these represent the last public policy instrument to prevent citizens to fall into extreme poverty. As it will be argued, social assistance schemes did not only play a crucial role in the process of democratic transition cushioning the negative effects of the economic transformation, but they also represent important sources of democratic engineering providing legitimacy to the newly established market-oriented order. A substantial reconsideration in the social policy logic behind their establishment is, however, urgently required.

THE IDEOLOGICAL ORIENTATION OF THE NEW DAWN PROJECT

This paper is concerned with the ideological dimension of the New Dawn project. It focuses on two analytical tasks. The first is to show that this project is not an independent reform measure. Instead it is a part of a series of pro-market welfare-to-work programmes launched by the Government to tackle social exclusion. The second is concerned with the debate on the desirability of this project in reducing social exclusion. As the design of this project is heavily indebted to market values, it is highly supported by those analysts and policy-makers who stress the importance of the labour market in helping socially excluded groups achieve social inclusion but it receives criticisms from those analysts who question the ability of the private market in tackling social exclusion. By carrying out these two tasks, the paper raises our awareness of the fact that whether people support the New Dawn project or not reflects not only their judgment on the effectiveness of this project in meeting the needs of single parents and carers on the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme but also their views on market ideologies.

A Comparative Study of Social Assistance Schemes in Korea andEight OECD Countries

A Comparative Study of Social Assistance Schemes in Korea andEight OECD Countries

Social Security and the European Convention on Human Rights: How an Odd Couple Has Become Presentable

For more than twenty years now, the European Convention on Human Rights has been used to solve disputes in social security. This is peculiar since the Convention itself and its Protocols primarily comprise civil and political rights and do not include a right to social security. This article analyses the supervisory bodies' case law to establish how national disputes over contributions or cash-benefits under statutory social insurance and social assistance scheme have attracted the protection of the Convention. It also provides an overview of the types of social security cases which today fall within the ambit of particular rights guaranteed by the Convention. It concludes that the right to a fair trial (Article 6(1)) and the protection of property (Article 1 of the First Protocol to the Convention) are, as a general rule, applicable in the field of social security. By contrast, the protection of family life and the protection of private life (Article 8) have, in social security matters only, only been accepted as applicable in the context of particular branches of social security or in relation to particular groups of beneficiaries.

How Tight are Safety-Nets in Nordic Countries? Evidence from Finnish Register Data

The non take-up of social assistance bene…ts due to claim costs may seriously limit the anti-poverty eect of these programs. Yet, available evidence is fragmented and mostly relies on interview-based data, potentially biased by misreporting and measurement errors on both bene…t entitlement and income levels used to assess eligibility. In this paper, we use Finnish administrative data to compare eligibility and actual receipt of social assistance by working-age families during the post-recession period (1996-2003). Possible errors due to time-period issues and discretionary measures by local agencies are carefully investigated. Non take-up is found to be substantial -between 40% and 50% - and increasing during the period. Using repeated cross-section estimations, we identify a set of stable determinants of claiming behavior and suggest that the increasing trend is mainly due to a composition eect, i.e. a decline in the proportion of groups with higher claiming propensity. We …nally discuss the targeting e¢ ciency of the social assistance scheme.

Routes to Employment for Administrators of Discretionary Payments within Social Assistance Schemes in Britain and the Netherlands

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the routes to employment taken by administrators of discretionary exceptional needs payments within social assistance in Britain and the Netherlands and questions assertions that administrators seek out their ‘occupations because of their potential as socially useful roles’ (Lipsky 1980). Empirical data illustrates that whilst Dutch administrators had often purposely embarked on a previous course of study and a subsequent career in ‘helping people’, British administrators had often come from a bureaucratic background and had, as they saw it, ‘ended up’ as Social Fund Officers, having mostly perceived the Civil Service as a means to helping themselves get a secure career. The paper concludes that, when asked to make the same kinds of decisions about (the sometimes complex exceptional needs of) social assistance beneficiaries, the two sets of workers came equipped to deal with their stressful occupations with quite different personal resources, which may be thought to impact on their understandings of poverty and the nature of social assistance dynamics.

European Schemes of Social Assistance: An Empirical Analysis of Set-Ups and Distributive Impacts

This paper analyses the distributive impacts of various regulatory and institutional settings of European schemes of social assistance. For this purpose, two sets of classifications of European schemes of social assistance are introduced that classify the systems according to regulatory arrangements and degree of centralisation, respectively. Subsequently, the distributive impacts of five selected EU systems are calculated on the basis of LIS data and their relationship to class assignment is investigated.

European schemes of social assistance: an empirical analysis of set‐ups and distributive impacts

This article analyses the distributive impacts of various statutory and institutional settings of European schemes of social assistance. For this purpose, two sets of classifications of European schemes of social assistance are introduced, which classify the systems according to their level and statutory settings and according to their degree of centralisation, respectively. Subsequently, the distributive impacts of seven selected EU systems are calculated on the basis of Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data and their relationship to class assignment is investigated. We find that a high share of social assistance recipients in the population concurs with better distributive effectiveness, while a higher social assistance budget or higher benefit levels do not necessarily yield a better performance. Various forms of targeting seem to enhance distributive efficiency. Concerning centralisation, the results do not show that a certain degree of centralisation yields better results with regard to distributive effectiveness or efficiency.

The Production of Last Resort Support: A Comparison of Social Assistance Schemes in Europe Using the Notion of Welfare Production and the Concept of Social Rights

This article aims to assess present social assistance schemes using the notion of welfare production and the concept of social rights. The focus is on how different stages of social assistance schemes are linked, and how well schemes succeed using a number of different indicators. The data are from the year 2000. The six countries that are included in the study represent different welfare state models. The findings show that there are a number of relationships between inputs, outputs and outcomes. Countries with more extensive social security schemes have less extensive social assistance schemes. The results also indicate that countries with less extensive social assistance schemes provide more generous levels of support; and simultaneously, that more generous schemes are associated with a lower prevalence of poverty. In the two Scandinavian countries that are included in the study (Finland and Sweden), social assistance schemes were the most generous from a social rights point of view.

Poverty Alleviation and the Degree of Centralization in European Schemes of Social Assistance

In this paper, the relationship between the degree of centralization and the distributive outcomes in European schemes of social assistance is investigated. For this purpose, a scheme of classification suitable for grouping the EU15 schemes according to features related to centralization is established by using cluster analysis and an indicator for centralization is developed by employing multidimensional scaling. Subsequently, on the basis of Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data, the effectiveness and efficiency in reducing poverty through social assistance payments are calculated using several measures of poverty for five selected EU systems and the linkage of their distributive impacts to the degree of centralization is examined. Concerning effectiveness in poverty alleviation, the results provide some evidence that extremely centralized systems are more effective with regard to redistribution than extremely decentralized schemes. However, for systems with a medium degree of centralization, the hypothesis that greater decentralization leads to more effectiveness is not supported. With respect to efficiency, no support is lent to the hypothesis that a higher degree of decentralization is accompanied by a better distributive efficiency. Rather, the results seem to suggest that systems with a medium degree of decentralization do better than either extremely centralized or extremely decentralized systems.

Targeting and Self-Targeting in a New Social Assistance Scheme

The analysis of targeting of cash benefits is typically silent on whether any success is due to encouraging claims from the poor or to the decisions of administrators on the claims they receive. By contrast, the paper models the probabilities of households' knowledge of a new social assistance scheme, of a claim conditional on knowledge, and of an award conditional on knowledge and claim. It uses household survey data from Uzbekistan where a new social assistance benefit is administered by community organisations. The paper therefore also illustrates problems of design of decentralised social assistance schemes in developing countries.

Old Age Pensions in South Africa

This article briefly describes the old age pension system in South Africa, with a special focus on its strengths and the challenges it faces. The article shows that the most pertinent concerns are the level of exclusion from the contributory pension funds, the extent of reliance on the social assistance programme and the lack of institutional capacity to deliver the social assistance programme effectively. The proposed reforms are aimed at achieving a better integrated pension system where contributions are mandatory for all formal sector workers and where contributions are preserved for retirement. The underlying objectives are to limit the growing dependence on social assistance from the State, and at the same time to increase the effectiveness of the social assistance scheme for the target population.

Poverty Alleviation and the Degree of Centralisation in European Schemes of Social Assistance

In this paper, the relationship between the degree of centralisation and the distributive outcomes in European schemes of social assistance is investigated. For this purpose, a scheme of classification suitable for grouping the EU15 schemes except for Luxembourg according to features related to centralisation is established and an indicator for centralisation is developed. Subsequently, on the basis of LIS data the effectiveness and efficiency in reducing poverty through social assistance payments are calculated for five selected EU systems and the linkage of their distributive impacts to the degree of centralisation is examined.

Alienated Life: Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Ultra Poor in Thailand

This paper analyzes socioeconomic characteristics of more than 1,300 extremely poor households randomly selected from rural areas in four regions of Thailand in 1999. These "ultra poor" households are observed to share the same demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as the ordinary-poor households in Thailand, such as relatively large family sizes, large demographic dependency ratios, household heads with low or no schooling, and lack of land assets. However, unlike the general poor, the ultra poor are more likely to be general laborers (instead of farm laborers), have a higher incidence of widows as heads of households, fewer number of working days, and greater burden of chronically ill and disabled persons in the family. Surprisingly, despite the Thai government's large number of social assistance schemes, very few of the ultra poor report receiving any assistance. A large proportion of the ultra poor are very pessimistic about their prospects for escaping poverty. To help the ultra poor, the paper concludes that the government will need to maintain macroeconomic and sectoral policies that bring about economic growth, adopt general anti-poverty policies that promote income-generating opportunity and capability of the poor, and provide safety nets for those whose family members suffer from catastrophic and chronic illnesses and disabilities.

Book Reviews: Social Assistance in Europe: A Comparative Study on Minimum Income in Seven European Countries, Synthesis Report, How Generous Social Assistance Schemes are? A Comparative Analysis of Benefit Levels

Book Reviews: Social Assistance in Europe: A Comparative Study on Minimum Income in Seven European Countries, Synthesis Report, How Generous Social Assistance Schemes are? A Comparative Analysis of Benefit Levels

Doch keine Freizügigkeit für Arme? – Zur Notwendigkeit einer Abwägung unterschiedlicher konstitutioneller Interessen

Abstract In reply to Jörg Markt and Gerhard Schick in this volume, this paper argues for a different view on social assistance and migration. First, this article will present some methodological conditions for constitutional contracts. Lacking empirical testability, the method of constitutional economics particularly needs the revelation of constitutional interests before evaluating alternative rules. By testing the described alternative rules of migration in the face of potential constitutional interests, it will be shown that no rule discussed meets all targets. The reader has to be aware that Märkt/Schick decided to meet the target of free migration for welfare recipients and thereby missed some essential targets of social assistance. In this paper it is questioned, if the objective of free migration for welfare recipients is as important as it looks at first glance. It is argued that liberty as a constitutional interest can be restricted by rational constitutional voters. Behind the veil of uncertainty it might be necessary to limit the external diseconomy from free-riding welfare recipients in social assistance schemes or the external diseconomy from the poor in the utility-interdependence sense. If the reader comes to share this point of view, there is no need to harm the original constitutional interests related to social assistance.

A 'Dutch Model': Employment Growth by Corporatist Consensus and Wage Restraint? A Critical Account of an Idyllic View

During the 1990s in many western countries employment decreased or at least stagnated and unemployment increased. One of the few countries where the reverse happened is the Netherlands. Harmonious relations and cooperation between capital and labour, particularly the exchange of wage moderation for jobs, are seen as the secret of its success and often viewed as a model in other European countries. One of the reasons for this is that the Dutch have not paid the price of an Anglo-Saxon poverty rate for employment growth. Despite some cuts, their comprehensive welfare system still has relatively high replacement rates. We will, however, see that the Dutch development is not as model-like as it superficially appears. Labour market participation is not particularly high and, consequently, non-employment—including a very large number of people on disability, early pension or social assistance schemes—is high. In fact, at least up to 1996/97, it had changed very little since the mid 1980s. Therefore, it is only in the very recent past that the rise of employment has been accompanied by a decline in non-employment.

A 'Dutch Model': Employment Growth by Corporatist Consensus and Wage Restraint? A Critical Account of an Idyllic View

During the 1990s in many western countries employment decreased or at least stagnated and unemployment increased. One of the few countries where the reverse happened is the Netherlands. Harmonious relations and cooperation between capital and labour, particularly the exchange of wage moderation for jobs, are seen as the secret of its success and often viewed as a model in other European countries. One of the reasons for this is that the Dutch have not paid the price of an Anglo-Saxon poverty rate for employment growth. Despite some cuts, their comprehensive welfare system still has relatively high replacement rates. We will, however, see that the Dutch development is not as model-like as it superficially appears. Labour market participation is not particularly high and, consequently, non-employment—including a very large number of people on disability, early pension or social assistance schemes—is high. In fact, at least up to 1996/97, it had changed very little since the mid 1980s. Therefore, it is only in the very recent past that the rise of employment has been accompanied by a decline in non-employment.

The Failure of Social Security in Alleviating Poverty in Hong Kong

This paper reviews results of different researches on Hong Kong's poverty problem in the 1990s and suggests the level of benefit of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA) is not adequate to raise the poor out of poverty but creates and maintains a poverty trap for the recipients. The paper argues that the residual approach of the government's welfare philosophy is a failure rather than a success in fighting against poverty.

Poverty amid Plenty: Lessons from Botswana’s Social Assistance Scheme

Social assistance programmes are making a strong comeback after social policy analysts had predicted their demise, as is the use of the budget standards approach to identifying poverty and to establishing the generosity of social assistance benefits. Using the example of Botswana, this article highlights some pitfalls in using the budget standards approach in social assistance schemes, and especially the parsimonious help the poor can expect from this approach. It suggests, however, that conventional explanations for the increasing popularity of social assistance, such as economic constraints and the pathologizing of the poor, are not universal. Greater attention needs to be given, therefore, to the context of poverty rather than to the customary focus of poverty studies on measuring poverty “objectively”.